North America’s most talked about culinary competition returns to Houston on February 28 with a one-of-a-kind stand-up tasting reception featuring five chefs cooking five heritage breed pigs in a friendly competition for a cause. Upping its commitment to the good food movement, this year’s tour will benefit Piggy Bank, a genetic sanctuary that will provide free heritage breed pigs and business plans to emerging family farms. Celebrating its 8th Annual 18-city tour, Cochon555 is dedicated to uniting 16,000 guests across the country with local farmers, renowned chefs, prominent winemakers, restaurateurs, craft brewers and distillers. Together, they are raising awareness for honest food producers, responsible farming and the first open-source agriculture platform.
This year’s competing chefs include Jean-Philippe Gaston of Izakaya Itanji, Justin Yu of Oxheart Restaurant, David Cordua of Americas, Richard Knight of Hunky Dory and William Wright of Helen Greek Food and Wine. The chefs will prepare a maximum of six dishes from one whole hog and their utilization will help them win votes from a crowd of hungry gourmands and celebrated judges. In addition to the 36 dishes prepared from locally-raised pigs, guests will feast on educational experiences featuring boutique wines and culinary cocktails paired with delicious bites. The winner of the regional event will be announced as the “Princess or Prince of Porc” and go on to compete for the national title of “King or Queen of Porc” at Grand Cochon, the tour finale, held at the Viceroy in Snowmass/Aspen on June 18th.
Guests can enjoy more culinary programming beyond the 36 competition dishes at this fairy-tale pig event including the a reserve tasting of Prosciutto di Parma, TarTare Bar with Creekstone Farms, “Luxe Butter Bar” with Antica Napa Valley and La Brea Bakery, the Artisan Cheese Bar featuring Cypress Grove Chevre, Coach Farm and Parrano and the Seafood Shelf featuring sustainable oysters. Voters get a ticket to Taste the New Ramen Bar paired with the stunning Wines of Germany and Sun Noodle followed by the Pop-Up Pie Shop right before the Awards Ceremony. Additionally, guests will have the opportunity to take home delicious heritage breed pork at the Pop-Up Butcher Shop, a retail experience raising money for Piggy Bank hosted by celebrated emcee Billy Harris of Hanging with Harris with the support of Williams-Sonoma and Hedley & Bennett. The beverage program includes Cochon555’s Punch Kings local barkeep competition featuring Breckenridge Distillery and The Welcome Punch reception featuring Buffalo Trace, DRY Sparkling and The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley. Wine tastings are back in a big way in 2016 with the “Five Winemakers” including sought-after wines from Paul Draper (Ridge Wines), Rajat Parr (Sandhi Wines), Abe Schoener (Scholium Project), Jeff Pisoni (Pisoni Vineyards), Pax Mahle (Pax Wine Cellars) and special guests Matt Courtney of Arista Vineyards, a spotlight Sommelier Smackdown and Azzurro Wine Company. The Perfect Margarita Experience includes a tasting of hand-crafted luxury tequilas from Don Julio including 1942 and the mobile Heritage Rum Cart featuring Rhum Clement will travel through the crowd while guests sip libations at the TIKI BAR featuring The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley. The “Chupito” Mezcal Experience returns featuring Don Amado, Fidencio, Mezcales de Leyenda, Koch el Mezcal, La Venenosa and Derrumbes. Bourbon lovers rejoice with the Perfect Manhattan featuring Eagle Rare and Buffalo Trace finished with Luxardo cherries with a special treat from Creminelli Fine Meats and the Smoked Old Fashioned featuring Breckenridge Bourbon. Right before the awards, everyone is invited to experience “The Last Word” featuring Junipero and Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur. Low-proof favorites include Martinez Lacuesta’s Vermut Bar and the crisp lineup of brews and ciders. Dry Sparkling is offering a non-alcoholic option with their lineup of culinary sodas. Don’t miss the chance to buy tickets to this fairy-tale heritage pork event as tickets are expected to sell-out to this an all-inclusive stand up reception.
“I’m excited about all the new partners in 2016 who support family farming and independent business. The Cochon555 Tour is now a movement, from hosting celebrated culinary events and dinners all over North America to reaching a global audience with the news of the first open-source agricultural model. The tour is dedicated to helping family farmers succeed, period.” stated founder Brady Lowe. “This doesn’t exist anywhere in the world, and for the first time in human history, a culinary tour has emerged to save endangered species on a global scale. Together, with some of the best chefs and partners in hospitality, we amplify the conversation of heritage pork once again, which for many is a ‘gateway’ to a larger appreciation of where our food comes from and the people that raise it, leading to more mindful eating and safer food choices for our youth. We can’t wait to for amazing weekend in Houston with two dinners raising money for Piggy Bank, a 501(c)(3) project of the Giving Back Fund.”
On February 26, the weekend takeover commences with a pair of guest chef dinners to benefit Piggy Bank. These unique dinners bring together chefs, world-renowned winemakers and beverage experts to create a multi-course, interactive dining experience where guests have the opportunity to interact with the participating chefs. On Friday, the tour will kick off with the Late Night Asian Speakeasy, an all-inclusive feast paying homage to Chinese, Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Japanese after-hour establishments known to inspire great kitchens across the country. On Saturday, a refined three-hour culinary experience, the Chef’s Course Dinner Series, begins with a reception featuring a selection of passed hors d’oeuvres followed by a seated dinner and premium wine pairings. Both dinners will be limited to 40 seats each night, tickets will be available online at $125 per person and 100% of the proceeds will benefit Piggy Bank. Additionally, ticket buyers are welcome to sign-up for Chefs Course, Cochon555’s annual rewards program with over 100+ restaurants participating nationwide.
Founder Brady Lowe has a long-term commitment to making Piggy Bank the charity recipient of tour moving forward. The Cochon555 tour will find 275 donors each year to help fuel the movement in addition to hosting dinners and other activities. Piggy Bank seeks to build a future for family farming with the goal of changing the future of food and promoting long-term farming sustainability. Piggy Bank will raise heritage breed pigs to be gifted to new farmers and culinary schools, assist new family farms with herd development and help existing farms challenged by disaster. For more details about Piggy Bank, please visit www.Piggy-Bank.org, or follow @piggybankorg on Twitter.
WHEN:Sunday, Feb. 28th
WHERE: JW MARRIOTT HOUSTON DOWNTOWN
806 Main Street Houston, TX 77002
VIP Admission: 4PM / $200
General Admission: 5PM / $125
BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE!
COCHON 555 is a casual event. Come VERY hungry, and on time like movie night. TICKETS ARE ALL-INCLUSIVE, as a guest you will enjoy a generous culinary experience. VIP receives one-hour early-access to food, drink and an opportunity to mingle with notable chefs, judges and media (kind of like meeting the cast & crew behind the scenes on opening night of a new movie). General Admission is an Epic Tasting of five chefs cooking whole pig from nose to tail paired with wines, brews and spirits. We strategically plan and execute pop-up experiences with food and beverage champions every 20 minutes throughout the evening including ramen bars, signature desserts, tartare bars and sponsored nibbles paired featured cocktails. This is flavor country, honest food prepared with passion. Stick around for the awards and we promise you will not go hungry. If you can make it, everyone is invited to the Cochon 555 After Party.
